Environment: Caught in the Courts

Behind closed doors the members of the House Public Works Committee were
furious. "Pestiferous little lawsuits," said Congressman James Wright
of Texas. The judges are "a bunch of ignoramuses," said Alabama's
Robert Jones. "Ridiculous and silly," said Roger Zion of Indiana.

What incensed the committeemen was a relatively obscure section of the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). It requires every
federal agency to publish detailed statements on the "environmental
impact" of every bridge or canal or other project under its
jurisdictionplus "reasonable" alternatives to those projects.